Science of Sound: An Exploratory Art Walk (With Artists and Geeks!)

Sep 11, 2013 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

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Explore the technology and creative inspiration behind five art installations that are inspired by, created with, or altered by sound waves. This unique walking tour will weave through Olympic Plaza, the EPCOR CENTRE for the Performing Arts, The Art Gallery of Calgary, TRUCK Contemporary Art in Calgary, and the Glenbow Museum, to cap with a cocktail reception. And your tour guide for the evening is none other than Mike Morrison from Mike’s Bloggity Blog, Canada’s entertainment blog. This event is for ages 18+.

Tour Schedule:

7:00 pm – Meeting point at the Speaker City Sound Installation by PK Sound in Olympic Plaza

8:48 pm – Stick around for some musical entertainment and a cocktail while taking in the galleries!

About the Artists and Speakers:

Ivan Reese: Music is inherently mathematical, made of frequency, combination, and series. For both of Reese’s +15 Soundscape and future Soundasaurus performance, he’ll be using computer software to compose and play music based on unusual math, like the Infinite Ordinals — math that is beautiful, but inaccessible to most people when expressed as formulae, that can be intuitively understood and actually appreciated when heard as music. Reese wants to prove that music composed and performed by computer algorithms can be emotionally expressive, too. Part of the Soundasaurus Music Festival.

Sean Procyk:Soniferous eyesis an installation that explores the interplay between optics and sound. Built from carefully altered found objects and hand-crafted components, the work reinvents familiar technologies by turning them into tools for audio visualization. This investigation applies qualitative methods to generate an audiovisual spectacle, elevating common objects and their sounds to a higher level of vitality. Installed in TRUCK Gallery’s +15 Window Space, the work will become a temporary audiovisual happening that connects viewers through the mass experience of vibration. Procyk draws inspiration from construction processes, audiovisual light shows, interactive electronics and computer intelligence, he creates immersive artworks that evoke a multisensory experience.

Erika Lincoln: Two pieces by Erika Lincoln: The first is a 15 foot tall steel communication tower on which a bird’s nest made of yarn and plastic has been

constructed – it is linked to a computer that uses software to generate birdcalls from a database of urban sounds. The second is a flock of 20 kinetic bird sculptures that the artist has modeled after a flock near her house – the actual flock has picked up the sounds of her neighborhood (car alarms, rumbling trucks, auditory signals at crosswalks), and incorporated similar sounds and rhythms into their song repertoire.Through sound installation and kinetic sculpture, Artificial Turf explores the resourceful and responsive nature of birds whose natural habitats have been infiltrated by manmade structures and debris.

the General Manager of Technology Development at Suncor Energy, Bunio has over 30 years of experience in the energy business working in conventional and unconventional oil and gas, the offshore, and refining for several of Canada’s largest energy firms. His expertise includes research and development, project management, reservoir engineering and systems thinking. Dr Stan Stancliffe, P.Geol. is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan where he studied 150 mln year old fossil proto whale food and has published papers and presented talks on remote sensing, palynology, evolution, heavy oil, and ice strength.

Performance and Reception following Speakerhead: Science of Sound

National Music Centre (NMC) Synth Jam comprises of Brandon Smith and Derek Leugner using instruments borrowed from the NMC’s massive library of vintage electronic instruments – everything from Moogs and Arps through to Oberheims, Prophets, Linn Drums. The sound of NMC’s Synth Jam tries to capture the golden 80’s era of synths – before the computer became an instrument in its own right.